DDUnreal

oneironaught

Valuable learning experience for DeRozan, in that he’ll have to learn how to deal with pressure and double team traps.

JeffB

Andrea Bargnani, a 7′ 250lbs Center has a grand total of 1 double double this season (1 double digit reb game) and is averaging 0.8blks. Nothing more need be said. We all know he can score, but everything else, he lacks consistent effort and heart to succeeed on a regular basis. I’m tired of hearing “that’s a 7 footer running the floor” or “How many 7 footers do you know can do that”. How about pointing out what he should be doing as a 7 footer that he doesn’t do.

DSWC

I only got to watch parts of this game, but considering how under-manned the Raptors are, I’m still impressed that they managed to compete with the big boys (whether or not they took us lightly or not).

I think this is definitely promising, as we knew this was going to be a tough year, but we at least always manage to compete. Yes these are some tough times, but at least we’re not getting blown out every night.

Nice to see the emergence of DeMar, as he’s played well in the new year, especially when Bargs was out, and he was given an increased role. It seems like he took it and ran, and has been riding that momentum ever since. Davis has been slightly building all year, and while the points aren’t always there, the rebounds usually are. Amir has been playing really consistently too.

Crepe

I don’t know what to think about Bargs.

One game I’m like “Wow this guy is amazing, unstoppable, a Beast, He’s the man”
The other I’m like “Damn come on, you don’t give a shit, you don’t care about winning, You don’t care about anything!!”

I’m tired of that, really tired.

fancylad

i turned off after the first half…. so i was really impressed!

That touch pass from Julian Wright to Amir was beautiful. Derozan played really well. Was impressed with Davis’ activity on D. Looks like i turned off at the right time.

I don’t know what to say about Andrea. Even though i only saw the first half, i saw exaclty what everyone is all alluding to. However, i’d prefer to stay positive…. Bargnani with the massive effort to help out operation tank.

Forza Tankgnani.

Claudius

What got me, was that Ed Davis and DeRozan were out there playing a different game.

When a shot goes up on the offensive side, Davis is really the only guy on our team who’s in position to get a rebound or make the opposition work for a defensive rebound. He doesn’t need touches. He just makes plays out of nothing sometimes and all it shows is heart and determination.

DeRozan is one tough dude. He was getting hacked and beat up all night but he was still attacking and that’s one awesome sign. Right there he showed me why he’s considered so highly. Hill, Manu and Neal were hacking him and taking cheap shots but he kept on coming. I think it may have been his first instance of seeing an NBA double team and he really suffered but I’ll take him learning from that right now.

But Bargnani? It’s like, when his shot is not falling he gives up on the game. Can’t score, then it isn’t worth playing and it drives me insane. Hell, why are you taking 18 fters and not attacking a slower player in Blair? Is Andrea hurt? Why not attack to get yourself going? Instead it was like he feared the contact on some lay up attempts where he’d fade away from the basket and flick the ball there. What the hell is that? Why not do other things to get yourself INTO the game. Set a few hard screens to release Demar. Play some post defence. Understand where you’re supposed to be in 2-3 zone. They weren’t playing match up zone so I don’t know why on some plays Andrea was playing man to man but it just spoke volumes about him.

And I know Leo was saying in the 4th when Bargnani hit that ONE shot to start feeding him the ball and all I have to ask is why? Why give it to him when he hasn’t earned it and really you should be in straight attack mode? No wonder your stuck coaching Canada Basketball.

Hell, bench Bargnani for the next game, or well, don’t start him. Send a clear message.

Ligeia

The most frustrating thing about Bargnani, from my perspective, is this: his ability to score when he is on is just enough to offset his other deficiencies. If he’s not scoring, he is useless.

Many might call me crazy, but I’ve been wondering lately if Bargnani is best suited as a 6th man on a really good team, a team where everyone else covers his defense and rebounding. He would be a mismatch king and should be able to score at will.

The sad thing is that I’m already way more excited about Davis as a core piece of this team than I am about Bargnani.

‘trane

i still love bargs. he can be frustrating, and he certainly is useless on an off-night like last night, but i still think he’s a fantastic offensive talent and should be a big piece of the raps going forward. he is by no means a centrepiece, but he would be a massive matchup asset if we had another traditional big. the raps would also be greatly improved next year if we were able to obtain a hard-nosed vet big man that plays d and can teach davis and amir how to play like a pro. you need those kinds of mentors. this has been discussed relentlessly, but a bigs rotation of bargs/x, amir/davis would cause matchup nightmares for opponents as long as player x is big, solid on the defensive end, hard-nosed and aggressive. a guy like perkins, assuming he’s not done, would be perfect. chadler, m gasol, camby, haslem, and perhaps mcdyess would work too. i’m sure there are others… dalembert? nene? regardless, i think Bargs is a good deal, and most of the time he does what i expect him to do. we just don’t have the talent alongside him to cover for his weaknesses. and lucky is the team that has players who don’t have glaring weaknesses.

bjjs

You just can’t cover the weaknessess Bargnani brings to the starting lineup, like I have said numerous occasions, and Ligeia just mentioned, Bargnani is best suited as a 6th man.

He could be superb in that role. Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen under Colangelo. One thing about the Gunz is that they all respect Bargnani’s offensive game. I would love to see him come off the bench and light it up after a defensive tone has already been set with a solid starting lineup with two way players at every position.

Staying in front of your own man might be good enough when you’re playing the Nets or the Kings, but if you want to win more than you lose and play good basketball, you need 5 guys who can read defensive situations and act accordingly.

You can’t just have one player, and say you suck defensively so you get to just guard your man, and ignore everyone else and expect to be as good as teams who have 5 guys keyed in every possession. It’s unrealistic.

Then there is transition defense…

Teams will make Andrea play defense. Simple as that. They’ll involve him on pick and rolls and attack him. You can help for him, but that will leave something else open. If you want to leave a defensive red exclamation mark on the court you’ll be counting on some offensive ineptitude by the opponent.

So how do you sum up this season and this series in words? Unbelievable is the first word that jumps into my head. This season was never suppose to happen lets make that clear. The Raptors were the Knicks accepting a trade away from it not happening. Kyle Lowry now becomes the focus of this […]